I have chosen passages from the House on Mango Street that I consider to be important. the passages will be directly related to issues to be emphasized. The passages will be followed by activities that will proved connections between the novel and the students experience. The integration of disciplines will be found in the following activities.
Vignette #1 (Page 10)
My Name
Born like me in the Chinese year of the horse--which is supposed to be bad luck if you’re born female--but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, men don’t like their women strong. Students can use the following information to discuss their idea of what it must have been like for women in China prior to 1950.
Students will use the following for reading, response, reaction and evaluation. Students will decide for themselves if it is bad luck to be born female in China as they read the following selections. Ask students to write their evaluation.
Elizabeth Croll describes the evolving identities of women in China. China is a very large country and contains varying attitudes. The following poem in her book describes an attitude that has long been a part of China’s culture.
Daughter Order
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When a son is born
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Let him sleep on the bed
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Clothe him with fine clothes
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And give him jade to play with
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How Lordy his cry is!
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May he grow up to wear crimson
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And be the lord of the clan and the tribe.
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When a daughter is born,
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Let her sleep on the ground
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Wrap her in common wrappings
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And give her broken tiles for play things
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May she have no faults, no merits of her own
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May she well attend to food and wine
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And bring no discredit to her parents (Croll, 32).
The Marriage Laws of the People’s Republic of China adopted by the Central People’s Government Council at it 7th meeting April 13, l950 provides a concrete contrast between two views. The views regarding women before 1950 and the views regarding women after 1950. There are Sixteen articles regarding marriage. I am including just a few. (Flemming Christiansen and Shirin Rai, 277)
The General Principles
“Article 1. The feudal marriage system based on arbitrary and compulsory arrangements and the supremacy of man over woman, and in disregard of the interests of the children, is abolished”(277).
“The New-Democratic marriage system, which is based on the free choice of partners, on monogamy, on equal rights for both sexes, and on the protection of the lawful interests of women and children, is put into effect” (277).
“Article 2. Bigamy, concubinage, child betrothal, interference in the re-marriage of widows, and the exaction of money or gifts in connection with marriages, are prohibited” (277).
Further attitudes about women can be examined by looking at the infanticide in China. Infanticide has long been a human rights issue in China. Tahirin V. Lee has included The Spheres of Exchange and Spheres of Law: Identity and Power in Chinese Marriage Arrangements in his book (254)
“You must not tell anyone”, my mother said, “what I am about to tell you”. “In China your father had a sister who killed herself. She jumped into a family well. We say that your father has all brothers because it is as she had never been born “ (254).
“Infanticide is the deliberate killing of a child in China in its infancy and includes death by neglect...Because there are few cases of preferential male infanticide as a universal social policy female infanticide is a reflection of the deadly consequences of cross-cultural domination of patriarchal values and culture” (254).
Compare the marriage and divorce laws of the United States with the marriage and divorce laws of the People’s Republic of China.
How are they similar and how are they different?
Vignette # 2 (Page 26)
Marin
Marin says she’s going to get a real job downtown because that’s where the best jobs are, since you always get to look beautiful and get to wear nice clothes and can meet someone in the subway who might marry you and take you to live in a big house far away...Marin is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life.
This vignette provides the opportunity for values clarification activity so that the student can reflect on their own system of importance. Students will have an opportunity to talk about their values as they play the following game. Give the students $5000 of play money. Each of the following values are to be bid upon. The teacher or class recorder will keep a record on the bids. Some values may take all of their money. Some values will cost less than others. There is no winning or losing except to the highest bidder. To one person one value is important and to another value is important. It is important not to place judgment on choices. When the students have spent their money ask them to explain why they chose what they did and why they spent their money the way they did. What do they hope to gain by choosing the value?
Are there any values on this list that are more important to one gender than the other?
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Ask students to assign a dollar value to the following values. No more than $5000 for any one value.
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Ask the students to read the words, give meaning, and how they would feel if they possessed the following list of words.
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Are any of these values more important to women than to men?
loyalty
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family
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children
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friendship
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love
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peace
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fame
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success
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security
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popularity
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fortune
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health
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honesty
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hope
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good grades
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intelligence
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happiness
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good time
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free time
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education
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Vignette #3 (Page 29)
There was an old woman she had so many children she didn’t know what to do.
Rosa Vargas’ kids are to many and too much. It’s not her fault you know, except she is their mother and only one against so many.
This is a good point to ask the students to question their own stereotypical thinking and to develop flexibility. I think there is tension for youth to live between the ideal of what they would like have happen and reality.
Ask students to divide into small groups. Think of responsibilities of bringing up a child that they can think of. Then have students take a sheet of paper and fold the sheet in half. On one side of the paper write: "What is the role of a mother in a child’s life?" Then on the other side write: "What is the Role of a father in a child’s life." Now decide which responsibility belongs to the mother and which belongs to the father. If the father or mother is not in the home what happens? Is it possible for the single parent to fulfill both of these roles. If so how? List the problems. How does it feel to be responsible for being both mother and father? Do you think a child suffers any consequences? If so what consequences? What role does the community play in a child life? What resources are their available to a single parent? Ask students to look in the phone book and find at least five places that can be called for help.
Vignette #4 (Page 31)
Of Alicia who sees mice
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Close your eyes and they’ll go away, her father says, or you are just imagining. And anyway, a woman’s place is sleeping so she can wake up with the tortilla star, the one that appears early just in time to rise and catch the hind legs hid behind the sink...she is a good girl, my friend, studies all night and sees the mice, the ones her father says do not exist. Is afraid of nothing except four-legged fur. And fathers.
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Have students close their eyes and visualize a vignette.
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Draw a picture of two or more scenes.
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Students could write and role-pay a couple of the sentences.
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Students could re-write two of the vignettes to provide a different ending.
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Discuss what is experienced when a person is not heard or acknowledged.
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Observe the voice of someone who does not feel heard in a dialogue. What does that feel like?
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Ask students what it is like for them when no one listens to them.
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Rank their responses on a scale of one to ten. One is the lowest response and ten each side of the paper. Anger? Not worthy etc.
Vignette #5 (Page 59)
Born Bad
But I think diseases have no eyes. They pick with a dizzy finger anyone, just anyone.
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Take a sheet of paper and fold in two.
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On one side of the paper put the heading “What people can control in their lives.”
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On the opposite side of the page write “What people have no control over.”
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Make a list for each side of the paper.
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Then place lists in paragraphs.
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Take the paragraphs and write a paper in essay style.
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Give the paper title.
Vignette #6 (Page 92)
What Sally Said.
He never hits me hard. She said her mama rubs lard on all the places were it hurts. Then at school she’d day she fell.
Describe the cycle of violence
Research domestic violence.
Invite a police officer or social worker to have class discussion.
Research the following topics in books in your library. There is a list of relevant books found in the student bibliography. Discuss orally. In small groups answer the questions on paper. Present the paper to the class in a manner organized by the students.
“What is love?” “What is need”? Are the two related?
What is domestic violence?
What is the dynamic in a violent relationship?
What are the community resources for people being violated?
Vignette #7 (Page 108)
A house of my own.
Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories. My two shoes waiting beside the bed. Nobody to shake a stack at. Nobody’s garbage to pick up after.
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What is being described?
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What feeling is being expressed?
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Could she have gained control without having her own house? If so, how?